Giordano Seeks To Have Conviction Overturned

BRIDGEPORT — Former Waterbury Mayor Philip A. Giordano's effort to overturn his conviction for sexually assaulting two young girls continued Monday in federal court, where his lawyer argued that his previous defense attorney failed to do everything he could to show Giordano did not use his office to gain access to the victims.

Giordano was sentenced to 37 years in prison in 2003 for civil rights offenses associated with the sexual assaults. He pleaded no contest to state sexual assault charges and was sentenced to 18 years to run concurrently.

An attorney for Giordano, Naomi Fetterman, argued before federal Judge Stefan Underhill at U.S. District Court that there was a "complete mischaracterization of the color of the law" that worked against the former mayor. She said there was erroneous instruction to the jury.

Fetterman argued that Giordano's attorney, Andrew Bowman, should have gotten the state Department of Children and Families records regarding not only the two girls his co-defendant was accused of selling to him for sex, but also another child the co-defendant allegedly had been pimping out.

Had the jury seen those records -- which could have shown that the girls were also sold to others who had no political power -- the defense argues that even if the jury believed Giordano sexually assaulted the victims, jurors would have not believed the mayor used his position to commit the crime.

"The jury was left with the impression that simply because the defendant was the mayor, he was acting under the color of law," she told the judge.

Later, outside court, Fetterman said the children Giordano allegedly abused came from a dysfunctional family where a relative widely pimped kids out to get drug money.

"Their abuse was not made possible because Mr. Giordano was mayor...If you could pay, you could've had access to these children," Fetterman said.

Earlier, Assistant U.S. District Attorney Peter Jongbloed told the judge, "The government doesn't believe the instruction was faulty." Even if it was, Jongbloed argued, there was no harm to Giordano because he was convicted of using his cell phone -- an interstate device -- to solicit minors for sex.

"At this point, it's getting to a point where it doesn't make a difference," Jongbloed said.

But Fetterman countered by saying the interstate-device convictions carried five-year sentences which Giordano served concurrently with other longer sentences.

Fetterman also argued that there was a "shocking lack of preparation" by Giordano's attorney to suppress information garnered through wiretaps. She maintained the trial attorney tried to suppress the wiretaps only with a three-line affidavit and a newspaper article -- and failed.

The Courant reported in 2003, as the case proceeded, that Bowman wanted a hearing to show that former Giordano campaign manager Timothy Longino -- a witness the government relied upon to get its initial wiretap approval -- held a grudge against Giordano. Bowman was prepared to call two former Giordano aides -- James Paolino and Michael Pieksza -- but Bowman noted at the time that Paolino's lawyer would not allow Paolino to speak with Bowman.

"We challenged the wiretap and the affidavit with extensive briefs and motions," Bowman said. Bowman said he filed a motion to suppress and the trial judge, since-retired Alan Nevas, denied it.

"The issues were dealt with extensively not only before the district court but also in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Look, this is America. You can make whatever claim you want. There was no effort spared in attacking the wiretap," Bowman said.

Bowman said he subpoenaed Paolino to court, and he took the fifth. The judge wouldn't compel his testimony.

"They're making a claim that I should have subpoenaed (DCF) records, the contents of which they don't know," Bowman said. "We filed extensive motions to get the judge in the district court to admit certain records that were subpoenaed. The records were produced. I can't tell you the contents because Judge Nevas sealed them and would not permit us to use them."

"Their argument that somehow something wasn't done that should've been done -- and they're speculating about what the record might contain -- you could make a judgement about that yourself," Bowman said.

Fetterman also blasted Bowman for calling no more than one character witness on behalf of Giordano.

"How many character witnesses do you think it was possible for me to call to the witness stand for Mr. Giordano?," Bowman said. "I assure you that we contacted every possible person who could have said something that was consistent with his good character."